20/50: The Esquire Survey of American Men

Fact: Among the total population, there are more 50-year-olds in America right now than any other single-age group, and the second largest single-age group (not counting the stragglers around 50) is 20-year-olds. Fact: If you're looking at only the male population, there are more 20-year-olds in America right now than any other single-age group, and the second largest single-age group is — wait for it — 50-year-olds.*Fact: This is pretty cool, and after commissioning a nationwide survey of men born in 1960 and 1990, we learned just how far apart today's 20-year-olds and 50-year-olds are in their attitudes, expectations, and beliefs.DISCUSS: Share Your Thoughts on Facebook and Twitter >>

A CLOSER LOOK: 61% of 20-year-olds say they're generally happy (answering 4 or 5 on our scale) compared with just 49% of 50-year-olds. And though the sample sizes for some of our ethnicities are small, we couldn't help but notice certain trends. The men with the highest all-around happiness? 50-year-old African-Americans (68% consider themselves generally happy). The group with the highest all-around unhappiness? 50-year-old Asian-Americans (33% consider themselves unhappy).

2. Who is the best role model for young men in America today?

Barack Obama

A CLOSER LOOK: Of the men we surveyed, there were clear preferences among certain ethnicities: 50% of 50-year-old Asian-Americans really like Brian Williams; 43% of 50-year-old African-Americans like Anderson Cooper; and, surprisingly, more than 29% of both 20-year-old African-Americans and 50-year-old whites find Glenn Beck the most trustworthy.

6. How much is too much to pay for a suit?

$200

A CLOSER LOOK: Among both 20-year-olds and 50-year-olds, men who say exercise is very important are more likely to say they're generally happy than men who don't exercise. Broken down by age and ethnicity, the group most enthusiastic about exercise is 20-year-old African-Americans (52% answered "very"); the least enthusiastic is 50-year-old Hispanic men (33%).

16. Do you believe in God?

17. You've got a big announcement to make to your close friends. What's your preferred method of communication?

Twitter

A CLOSER LOOK: 20-year-olds are three times more likely to have daily sex than 50-year-olds, but 50-year-olds are more likely to have sex on a regular basis. Also: 20-year-olds have, on average, sex 7.7 times a month; for 50-year-old men, that number is 5.2.

27. How much do you enjoy giving oral sex to your wife or girlfriend?

I love it.

A CLOSER LOOK: Among 50-year-olds who self-identify as conservative Republicans, the highest number of respondents make $50,000 to $99,999 a year; among the 50-year-olds who self-identify as moderate Republicans, the highest number make $100,000 or more. Also: Among the African-Americans surveyed, 20-year-olds are nearly five times as likely to self-identify as conservative as 50-year-olds (17% versus 4%).

41. Do you think President Obama is doing a good job?

A CLOSER LOOK: Among 50-year-olds, disapproval of Barack Obama rises in direct correlation to income. Among 20-year-olds, the opposite is true: $100,000-plus earners are more likely to say they think he's doing a good job than those earning $50,000 or less.

42. True or false: Climate change is real.

True, and it's caused by humans.

A CLOSER LOOK: Both 20- and 50-year-olds who make more than $100,000 a year are far less likely to say climate change is real than those who make less than $50,000 a year.

43. What's your take on the Tea Party movement?

Patriots

A CLOSER LOOK: Among the Hispanic men we surveyed, 20-year-olds are twice as likely to endorse hunting down undocumented workers as 50-year-old Hispanic men (28% versus 14%).

50. Which of the following worries you the most?

The size of the federal debt.

A CLOSER LOOK: 20-year-olds are more bullish on America's future than 50-year-olds, especially among whites surveyed (31% of 20-year-old whites think we'll be as strong in 2050; only 16% of 50-year-old whites share that view).

IN CONCLUSION

So what are we to make of all of this? First, there are a few things that 20-year-olds and 50-year-olds seem to agree on. The unrivaled joy of watching football, the abiding coolness of Clint Eastwood, gun control and the death penalty and performing oral sex: Both age groups love 'em all. But there are differences of opinion, too, about off-shore drilling and Megan Fox and how much they're willing to pay for a suit. Surprisingly, 20-year-olds are more conservative in many of their social attitudes: They're three times more likely than 50-year-olds to say that divorce is never an option; they're more likely to want their wives to stay home and take care of the kids; and there are more 20-year-olds who self-identify as pro-life than pro-choice. Fifty-year-olds, meanwhile, are a lot less optimistic than 20-year-olds: They're more doubtful that their kids will have a better life than them; they're less likely to think today is the best time to be a man; and they generally don't think that the U. S. will be as strong in 2050 as it is today. To see if they're right, check out our follow-up survey, "60/90: The Esquire Survey of American Men," hitting newsstands on October 1, 2050.

*With thanks to Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi for pointing out these facts to us and to the U. S. Census Bureau for confirming them. About our methodology: "20/50: The Esquire Survey of American Men" was conducted exclusively for Esquire by Beta Research Corporation, an independent firm located in Syosset, New York. The six hundred respondents were randomly selected from a pool of Internet-connected adults and results were weighted to reflect a national sample of American men aged fifty and twenty. Margin of error on totals is +/ — 4 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence, and for a sample size of three hundred it is +/ — 6 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence. The respondents completed the online survey between June 21 and June 30, 2010. Because of rounding, some percentages may not add up to 100.